THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28
I was getting ready to snooze my alarm again when the patter of rain permeated my sleepy hearing. So, I crawled up and got ready, throwing on my waterproof pants and BoatHouse jacket over my work clothes. I biked without an umbrella because that's cumbersome and rather illegal, but arrived at work dripping wet. Water running off my jacket. A student saw me in the parking lot and smirked, amused as he said, “Hello!” Once I got in, however, I stripped my outerlayers and was perfectly respectable for work, except for my wet hair. I'd put my hair up in a french braid bun, so even though it was wet, it still looked professional.
Because of sports festivals, the students had no classes today. I still had to be at work, obviously, but I spent the day making lesson plans. By about 1pm, I had been told that I could go “make lesson plans at home,” and took up the offer. One of my teachers kept trying to offer me an umbrella, but I refused, as politely as possible. It wasn't raining that hard. I swung by the bank on my way home and grabbed some money for this weekend.
Later that evening the rain had stopped and I went out to hit up the stores. I'd been debating whether to go to the Shiga JET Halloween party or not. I had a costume in mind, but I didn't know whether I could pull it off in such short time. I eventually decided that if I could find a white skirt and long sleeve shirt, I'd go as Princess Leia. I went to three shopping malls, circling like crazy looking for any speck of white. It was nigh impossible. All of the clothing has turned over to fall and winter gear and white's just not a winter color.
I was on my last possible place to check when I found a small discount shop in a back corner that had white skirts on sale. They were a bit lacy, but I grabbed one and some white shirts to try on. This eventually became my costume. And they fit, a bit tightly and a bit short, but they were reasonable. As I was checking out, I told the clerk I was going to a Halloween party and she was very excited for me.
I then swung into the hyaku-en store and picked up some stuff for my hair. I'd been brainstorming like mad. I picked up a pair of black leg warmers and a pillow. I'd wanted stuffing, which they did sell, but in very small bags. As everything is a flat price, I bought a pillow instead, after squishing it very carefully. I was right – it was full of stuffing! So, I worked the system and felt very smart.
Then I had to swing back to my first hyaku-en store to pick up Christmas wreaths. Yes, that's right. They had some small and medium ones on sale. At the store, I bumped into Liz, the mysterious JET who also lives in this building, but no one ever sees her. Elizabeth lives right next door and claims she never hears her. But then, I live right next door to Edmund and never hear him. But then, I can hear when the Japanese family next door's phone rings. I am so confused as to the sound insulation here.
We chatted for a bit and talked about my costume. She's a huge Star Wars fan, so she approved. We bought my Christmas Wreaths (after circling the store so I could find a mirror and make sure they were the right size.) She wasn't going to the party this year because she's going to Tokyo Disney's Halloween Party, which I can't really blame her for.
Once outside, she pointed out another hyaku-en store that's quite close and very good that I'd never seen before.
I asked her about the heat and she gave some good advice. She also offered to loan me one of her two heaters for the weekend, which I gladly accepted. I plan to go buy my own this weekend, and it shouldn't be too expensive, although I'll see a rise in my electric bill, obviously.
Back at home, she grabbed her heater (her apartment is quite crammed with stuff! Quite the opposite of my own.) and we headed over to mine. She offered to carry it because my hands were full with my bags. I get the idea from talking with her that she's friendly, but hasn't really meshed with the JET community and is thus a bit shy and appears antisocial. She was eager to hang out with me, telling me which days were best to go to Kyoto to buy cheap kimono (!!!!!) and offering me a trip to Osaka to use her Costco membership (cheese and peanut butter!!) So, I'm quite glad. Checking my schedule, it looks that the next times the 21st and the 25th appear on weekends are November and December, respectively. Well, I may go buy myself a Christmas present in Kyoto, then.
I spent the rest of the night cutting up my legwarmers and sewing them around the Christmas wreaths into little tubes, then stuffing them with the pillow fluff. This took about two hours. In theory, these will serve as padding to go under my Princess Leia buns, making them look fuller and bigger.
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